Three Sides to Every Story
by Laze0
Summary: Friendship fic dedicated to Shinon and Gatrie. Talks about their first meeting. Includes alcohol and stuff. Read and Review.


Hey. I'm back with a new story right in time for finals. Finals week and I'm writing a story instead of studying. I'm like the model student arent I? -_-

Well. This isnt a yaoi. It's just a friendship fic. So just fyi. Not everything is about hormones you know. It's also about the little things in life. So read and review.

Disclaimer-nada

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Three Sides to Every Story

Shinon's and Gatrie's friendship was the subject of much debate among their peers. Gatrie was a good natured womanizer. Shinon was a bad tempered gambler. They share some common interests like woman, alcohol, and fighting. Otherwise they were as different as night and day.

Gatrie was fairly loose with his money as long as a woman asked for it. Shinon would kill someone on sight if he was in a bad mood and they asked him for money. Gatrie fought up close and personal for the sake of chivalry and manliness. Shinon fought from far away because as long as it did the job, there was no point in risking his neck.

The pair even looked way different. Shinon was a lean muscled, camouflage wearing, and long haired redhead. Gatrie was a tall, bulky, and short haired blonde. Shinon was a criminal mastermind. Gatrie was the hitman.

That was why their friendship stumped most everyone. They asked them of course but each time they would just ignore them or give them some lame excuse like "Who needs a reason for friendship?" (Gatrie) or "I'm drunk. Whatever I tell you is going to be a lie." (Shinon). So the Greil mercenaries came together one day to come up with a way to find out the truth.

"Any success?" Ike asked.

"I tried beating it out of them but I had to stop," Boyd said.

"He means he got beat Ike," Mist supplied.

"Shut up Mist," Boyd snapped.

"How about you Oscar? Rolf?" Ike ignored Boyd's outburst.

"I tried to bribe Gatrie with food but came up short," Oscar shook his head.

"I begged Uncle Shinon but he just said to practice my shooting, "Rolf apologized.

"Mia? Mist? Titania?" Ike turned to the women.

"I thought about seducing Gatrie. I had this sexy underwear from Lucia but-" Mia began.

"I said Ike would kill Gatrie and powerful warriors like Gatrie are hard to come by," Titania interjected.

"Good call Titania," Ike had a dangerous glint in his eyes and Mia just grinned happily for some weird reason.

"Now as for me, I tried threatening them with extra work but nothing," Titania sighed.

"Some threat. She did make them do it," Boyd whispered to Ike.

"Well, the toilets and roof won't clean themselves," Titania snapped.

"Mist?" Ike asked.

"No dice bro. I gave them my best puppy dog face but that didn't work. All that happened was Gatrie trying to lure me to his room," Mist explained.

"So what happened?" now Boyd had a dangerous glint in his eyes.

"I kicked him in the shin and left," Mist smiled at the memory.

"As for me, I tried bribing them but found out I didn't have nearly enough," Ike sighed.

"If you had paid them off, I would have killed them for it," Soren spoke up.

"Ah Soren. Did you?" Ike asked hopefully.

"No. I honestly don't get everyone's obsession over this matter. It is of little consequence to anyone why they like one another. Perhaps they're gay," Soren said a bit peeved. He never got over how everyone thought he was gay until he revealed he liked Lethe.

"No, they're not gay. What we don't get is why you aren't interested in this?" Boyd pondered aloud.

"I don't like them," Soren said bluntly.

Everyone expected that. Soren was getting more sociable but his people skills still sucked. He was often times crude and blunt. The mercenaries have accepted that quirk of his but to outside observer he would seem estranged and rude.

"Regardless, do you have a plan?" Ike asked.

"Why not just get them drunk?" Soren sighed hating that he got dragged into this.

"That won't work," Mist interjected.

"Why not? Because they said so?" Soren asked.

The mercenaries were not a stupid bunch. They had various degrees of intelligence but sometimes that intelligence backfired on people. Soren pointed out something common sense.

"That's it!" Boyd proudly said as though he came up with that brilliant plan.

"Boyd. Calm down," Mist sighed.

"Alright so here's the plan. Soren you come up with a plan and we'll put it in action," Ike said. Strategy was not his forte.

"Just throw a party for something. I prefer not to waste my intelligence on something this stupid," Soren said as he walked away.

They did as he suggested and threw a party a few weeks later claiming it was in celebration of Elincia's coronation. The reasoning was weak but the free food and liquor gave Shinon and Gatrie no reason to argue.

When they seemed nice and drunk, the women asked Gatrie to go get more liquor. On his way there, the Mist and Boyd went up to him to try to get an answer.

Gatrie's Side

"So you guys wanna know the real story eh?" Gatrie took a swig of the cask he was holding. Boyd and Mist were holding the other four.

"Of course. I mean, the two of you are like way stronger than anyone I know so I just wanted to know how you two awesome fighters could have become such good friends and not say kill each other," Mist laid it on pretty thickly but Gatrie took it in stride.

"Damn straight. If it wasn't for the bandits that attacked us out of the blue one day, we might've killed each other," Gatrie slurred.

"Bandits?" Boyd asked.

"You heard me. See, it was a bright blue day. I was hired to protect this beautiful young lady and her quite ugly husband as they made a journey to Begnion. On the way, there was Shinon, up in the cliffs trying to kill them. Turned out he was hired to kill the two. Oh, they were nobles. May want to remember that," Gatrie looked at Boyd like he expected him to take notes or something and continued.

"He was shooting dozens of arrows. The other twenty or so guards were killed right quick but I, no sir, I wasn't gonna go down easy. I swung my heavy shield and blocked arrow after arrow. After a while, he quit firing and I hastily led the nobles to safety.

No sooner did I though, then fifty or so bandits ambushed me in the mountains. Shinon was watching. Reckon he was gonna wait till I kill the bandits then shoot me but as luck would have it, the lord screamed like a little girl and yelled that he would pay a thousand gold if anyone would help him. The idiot swung his big bag of gold in the bandits' faces. They attacked and I swung my heavy lance like this and that and cut like sixty of them down," Gatrie demonstrated his swings and nearly clocked Boyd and Mist with one of them. His numbers were off a lot but Mist and Boyd thought the alcohol must have gone to his head so a little discrepancy wasn't unreasonable.

"You two still listening?" Gatrie took a deep drag.

"Course," Boyd yawned. He heard stories like this a lot.

"How could we not?" Mist said seriously thoroughly fascinated by the story.

"Alright so there were five hundred left and Shinon decided that he could get a lot more out of saving the guy then by killing him and jumped out of nowhere. He bargained with the lord and got a lot of cash. With him at my back, we easily beat the five hundred guys and escorted the two to safety. The only sad part was that the fair lady did not leave with me though her heart, she wore, was mine forever, " Gatrie wiped a fake tear from his eyes, "Me and Shino decided we made a good team and like teamed up.

Then he stumbled over the doorway.

Shinon's Side

Meanwhile, Ike and Rolf were trying to get his side out of Shinon. Rolf was buttering him up like usual but Ike added in his own flattery.

"Shinon. I'll be honest with you. Next to my father and Zelgius, I respect you the most. Your cunning mind, your sharpshooting skill. All I can do is swing a sword," Ike said. Even though it was a ploy, it made Ike feel like throwing up.

"Damn straight. Finally came to your senses eh Ike?" Shinon laughed.

"Of course. No one is better than uncle Shinon except maybe Gatrie," Rolf said innocently.

"Gatrie? What does that idiot have to do with anything?" Shinon directed his question at Rolf.

"Well. He's really strong and he always said no arrow can pierce his armor," Ike interjected.

"Hah. If you two knew what happened the first time we met, you would know no one is better than me," Shinon sneered.

"Why? What happened?" Rolf said eyes wide in suspense.

"Ah heck, guess I could tell you Rolfie. It's like this. You ever heard of the coliseum? It's how strong folks like me make some extra change. The two of us made it to the final round. He was so cocky and proud. I don't like people who act like that you know," Shinon drained the rest of his third cask.

"Now don't get me wrong. Gatrie's no joke. We fought long and hard but I came up on top. In places like the arena, people fight to the death," Shinon paused for dramatic effect.

"Did you kill him?" Rolf asked.

"No you idiot. Otherwise he wouldn't be here no more. Now as I was saying, I won but I decided to be the bigger man and spared him. He was so impressed by me, he asked for me to help him out on a job. It was nothing big just helping to defend a village against an army.

Long story short, three hundred armed men against fifty of us. Me and Gatrie took the front and we slew those bastards before they knew what was coming. I killed like hundred and forty. He got hundred and ten. We decided we would do better fighting with each other than against each other so we teamed up. And that was the end of that story. So never tell me Gatrie's stronger than me okay Rolf? Ike?" Shinon yawned and headed towards the door.

True Side

Shinon saw Gatrie lying on the floor groaning and offered a hand, "What's up pal?"

"I tripped," Gatrie moaned as he took Shinon's proffered hand.

"That's what you get for drinking so much. Now let's take a walk to get rid of the fire in our bellies," Shinon ushered Gatrie out the door much to the latter's chagrin.

Seeing Boyd and Mist in the way, Shinon got the gist of why it took Gatrie so long to get some more liquor. He motioned for the two to go back inside and shoved his friend further along. When the two reached the middle of the forest, Shinon threw his head back and laughed.

"So they hit you up for a story too eh?" Shinon stifled his laughter.

"You too?" Gatrie chuckled.

"Told them about how we met fighting in a coliseum and against a random army," Shinon laughed.

"That's nothing. Told them about fighting thousands of bandits and protecting a beautiful damsel only to lose her," Gatrie gave a fake look of sadness.

"That's just crazy," Shinon said.

"I know. I mean when have I ever lost a woman?" Gatrie laughed.

Shinon sobered for a moment, "Yeah. That's the unbelievable part."

The two continued their laughing and thought about other stories they could tell. Then Soren popped out of nowhere.

"When'd you get here?" Shinon frowned.

"Just now. I was by the lake," Soren looked them in the eyes, "Don't worry. I woke spoil your fun."

"Tsk. Why aren't you with the others?" Shinon scoffed.

"I'm not as interested as they are. That and I know your pasts and I don't see what was so special about it," Soren waved his question away.

"Really? Then let's hear it," Shinon taunted.

Soren sighed, "You two were war orphans born and raised in a Daein orphanage. One day the orphanage was torn down by Ashnard and you two were taken into the army and trained to be soldiers. During a scouting mission, you encountered Greil, lost, and he offered you two a place to stay after seeing how weak and pathetic you were."

That was the gist of the story. Unremarkable as it was, that was the story of Shinon and Gatrie's friendship save the weak and pathetic part. That was Soren's own touch.

"How'd you?" Gatrie asked.

"I run a background check on everyone in the army that I had to command," Soren answered bluntly.

"That's private," Gatrie said angrily.

"Yeah. Better be careful where you stick your nose book boy," Shinon glared.

Soren held his hands up in mock surrender," I won't tell anyone. Everyone is entitled to their secrets."

"You're the most secretive of us all," Shinon pointed out.

"Exactly," Soren said as he left them alone.

Back home, the other mercenaries were piecing the stories together and found that there was no real consistency in either story.

"They lied to us," Mist announced.

"We should have expected it," Titania added.

"Guess we'll try again tomorrow. Now everyone get some rest. It's going to be a hard day tomorrow," Ike said.

He held Mia back though, "About that new underwear?"

Mia blushed and said, "What about it?"


End file.
